THE WAVERLEY BAR LIMITED

🌳Matureactive

SC245194 · ltd · incorporated 2003-03-06

Investment thesis

Well-run mature business — low negotiation leverage; premium likely.

Why interesting: Textbook target; clean filings, stable trading.

Why risky: No pressure on seller; any deal likely at full price.

Opportunity decay

hardening · 12-months

Already tight — no obvious softening catalysts on the horizon.

· Thesis: well-run, low negotiation leverage

🔒Estimated value

—

Upgrade to see

Turnover

—

year to Mar 2025

Net worth

£1.0k

book net assets

Opportunity

80/100

Exceptional

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What this business does

Primary activity: Public houses and bars

Sector: Accommodation & food service

Investor take

Pursue

Asset-holding vehicle with a 84-year-old founder — textbook succession opportunity.

Opportunity 80/100 (exceptional), bankability 75/100. Strong seller-intent signal (83/100, director aged 84). Share purchase looks the cleaner deal structure. Most likely exit: share sale to pe / searcher (65/100).

Data confidence

Overall: medium (76/100)

Adequate coverage. AI outputs are reliable for the sections scored high; verify the rest in diligence.

Company profile

address, 1 SIC codes, incorporation date

100

Financials

2 years of iXBRL accounts extracted (YoY deltas available) + narrative notes parsed

Lenders & charges

Confirmed no charges registered

Directors & officers

5 officers (3 active, 5 linked, 3 with DOB)

Ownership & PSC

2 active PSC(s) of 2 total, 2 with control declared

Director network

Network not yet resolved

Filing history

58 filings on record

Gazette notices

No matching gazette notices (standard for active companies)

Opportunity Score

80/100Exceptional

PassWatchWorth a lookStrongExceptional

Strong composite across quality, acquirability, and risk. High-priority target — progress to serious diligence.

Business quality

Active, clean filings, stable charge profile.

Acquirability

Strong succession / seller-readiness signals.

Risk profile

Few red flags.

Signal strength

Good data coverage for analysis.

Signals from accounts

Derived from iXBRL accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Positive net assets

Net assets £1,002

Key financials

2 years extracted from filed iXBRL accounts

Cash

—

Net Worth

£1k

↑ 559% YoY

Current Assets

£198k

↓ 2.4% YoY

Current Liabilities

—

Hover to see exact values · click legend to toggle series

Financials

Extracted from Companies House accounts · FRS 105 (micro)

Metric	2025-03-31	2024-03-31
Total assets	£1.0k	£152
Current assets	£198.5k	£203.3k
Net assets	£1.0k	£152

Amounts extracted automatically from iXBRL. Fields left blank were not reported or not mapped. Values in GBP unless stated.

🔒Filing-note intelligence

1 signal detected in this company's narrative notes — going-concern language, audit opinion, contingent liabilities, related-party transactions.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

Recent activity

Last 30 days

filings

Last 90 days

filings

Last 180 days

filing

• 1 confirmation-statement

Counts from Companies House filing history.

Corporate timeline (23 events)Click to expand

2025-06-18
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2024-06-19
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2023-06-20
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2022-07-06
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2021-05-26
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2020-11-04
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2019-06-05
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2018-07-09
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-09-26
📄
termination-director-company-with-name-termination-date
officers · TM01
2017-08-23
📄
accounts-with-accounts-type-micro-entity
accounts · AA
2017-06-13
📄
change-person-director-company-with-change-date
officers · CH01
2016-12-24
➖
SMITH, Arthur resigned
director
2016-10-20
📄
capital-allotment-shares
capital · SH01
2016-09-29
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2016-09-29
📄
capital-name-of-class-of-shares
capital · SH08
2016-09-29
📄
resolution
resolution · RESOLUTIONS
2003-03-06
🏢
Company incorporated
As THE WAVERLEY BAR LIMITED
2003-03-06
➕
SMITH, Margaret appointed
secretary
2003-03-06
➕
SMITH, Margaret appointed
director
2003-03-06
➕
SMITH, William Ian appointed
director
2003-03-06
➕
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED appointed
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-03-06
➖
OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED resigned
corporate-nominee-secretary
2003-03-06
➕
SMITH, Arthur appointed
director

Owner dependency

91/100

Critical — business is the founder

The business appears inseparable from the founder. Acquisition without a serious earn-out or meaningful transition period would likely destroy value.

FACTORS

+Two-director setup: Only two active directors — typical of owner-managed SMEs but limits succession.
+Long-tenure founder: Senior director has been in place 23 years — deep operational knowledge concentrated in one person.
+Founder age: Director aged approximately 84 — succession pressure is live.
+Family involvement: Multiple officers share a surname — likely family business, which concentrates governance.

Succession & seller-readiness

96/100

Likely off-market candidate

Strong acquirability signals converging. Worth approaching directly — this is how off-market deals start.

SIGNALS

primaryFounder aged 70+: Senior director is approximately 84 years old. Natural succession window is now.
secondaryTwo-director governance: Small-team governance. Succession depth is thin but not absent.
primary20+ year tenure: Director in role 23 years. Very long tenure is a classic succession signal.
secondaryStable-but-static management: Company is 23 years old and no new directors in the last 3 years — succession not yet being planned internally.
supportingClean filings + long tenure: Disciplined long-tenure operator — classic lifestyle-business pattern that often sells quietly.

Red flags

clean

No red flags detected from available public data. (This is not a clean bill of health — detailed accounts review still recommended.)

Shareholders & ownership

2 active beneficial owners

Name	Shares	Voting rights	Nature of control	Notified
Mr Ian Smith Individual · British · DOB 11/1942 · age 84	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016
Mrs Margaret Smith Individual · British · DOB 09/1948 · age 78	25–50%	—	25-50% shares	06/04/2016

From Companies House Persons with Significant Control filings. Share ranges are banded per the public PSC regime.

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Peers ranked by estimated value, then turnover, then opportunity score.See all →

🔒Tailored diligence questions

7 specific questions generated from this company's actual signals — liquidity, leverage, director age, charge count, red flags, age-of-company.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

See pricing →

🔒Advanced scoring suite

Exit-route ranking, improvement thesis, quiet-distress detector, covenant-pressure proxy, extraction monitor, approaching triggers, ownership drift, local cluster, value trap, debt capacity, archetype classification — 48+ scoring modules.

Available from the Pro tier upwards.

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Company details

Statusactive

Typeltd

Incorporated2003-03-06

Jurisdictionscotland

Primary SIC56302 — Public houses and bars

Registered office

Scotswood

Wilton Crescent

Hawick

TD9 7EH

Filing status

Accounts

Next due: 2026-12-31

Last made up to: 2025-03-31

Confirmation statement

Next due: 2027-03-20

Last: 2026-03-06

Officers (3 active · 2 resigned)

SMITH, Margaret→

secretary · appointed 2003-03-06

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SMITH, Margaret→

director · ~78y · appointed 2003-03-06

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

SMITH, William Ian→

director · ~84y · appointed 2003-03-06

View their other companies + combined net worth →

Active

OSWALDS OF EDINBURGH LIMITED→

corporate-nominee-secretary · appointed 2003-03-06 · resigned 2003-03-06

Resigned

SMITH, Arthur→

director · ~81y · appointed 2003-03-06 · resigned 2016-12-24

Resigned

Click a director name to see their full track record across all companies.